The Star.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8938, 3 July 1905, Page 2

The Star.

Delitered every evening \>y 6 o'olook in Hftwera M»n»i», Normanby, Ok&Uwft. Eltnun, Mangy taki, Kaponm, Awaiuna, Opunake, Otakeno, Murateft Alton, Hnrlejvflle, Pates, and WtTerlev

MONDAY, JULY 3, 1905.

HARNESSING OUR, TORRENTS.

Jlis Excellency the Governor, in opening Parliament, said : "For the purpose of promoting the industries of the colony and placing them on a satisfactory basis, providing for economical working and lighting, my advisers consider that the natural motive power of our rivers, lakes and waterfalls should bo utilised. Especially is this necessary if we are to compete on anything like equal terms with other coun- ! trios where wages are lower, longer hours are worked, and motive power is much ' cheaper than in the colony. Proposals to this end will.be submitted to you." In undertaking this service the Government is but following tlio lead of progressive and enterprising men in the most progressive countries of the world. But in those other countries the harnessing of the waters has been undertaken by privato individuals or companies of such. The promised Bill is but a logical sequence of tho Act of the legislature which vested the power of our streams in the State. It is the logical sequence to be expected from tho party which does so much to' keep the present Government in power. It is not, however, tho only one, for, as we have seen in this district, private companies have, been able through the Legislature to obtain permission to develop the power of the streams by their own enterprise. c The wisdom of endowing the State with so large a monopoly of what is generally considered a coming power will doubtless be well considered by the Legislature. It is as well not >to minimise the possible result of that potential strength in the hands of i\ Labor Government, and we do not think it will bo treated lightly in Parliament. Tho London Standard, in reviewing a similar enterprise with respect to Niagara, said : "The turbines of Niagara now take the first place in the application of power to useful purposes. They keep numbers of factories going, they light several towns, they work hundreds of miles of electric railways, and make Buffalo, twenty-four miles away, almost as well off as if it stood by the edge of the falls. But other rivers are being rapidly harnessed. The St. Lawrence, at the La Chine .rapids, near Montreal; the Rhine, at its falls, near Schaff hausen ; Ihe Rhone, at its famous Pcrte, below Geneva, with many others; even the Victoria Falls, on the Zambesi, are thi'eatened. In Germany, fourteen years ago, a current of twenty-five thousand volts was transmitted, with a loss of ouly one-fourth, from Lauffen to Frankfort, a distance of 112 miles, and at Los Angeles, in California, a current at a pressure of thirty-tliree thousand volts is received from a river 81 miles distant. The future, we may venture to predict, is with the countries on which Nature has bestowed strong rivers rather than .coalfields, for the latter, however carefully husbanded, must sooner or later be worked out." The mention of electricity as an alternative to coal in generating power leads us to ponder whether the Government is the most economical agent in en, terprises of the kind, and it is acceptable to gather information from a Government ! supporter on the subject. In one of tho ,' remarkably few speeches on the Address-in-Reply Mr Hogg, M.H.R. for Master- ' ton, late Government Whip, said: "He did not see any reference in the Speech, to the State coal mines, but he was not aware that much of the produce of these* \ mines had found its way to the firesides: i of the people. Why was the Government • not employing the men full time? The- ; mino had not been properly worked, and. tho Minister' for Mines had not been doing: j his duty." That appears to us to touch: j the spot. The pecuniary interests of th«« high superintendent were not engaged in: the results, as they would be were the.mines worked by private enterprise. And! Mr Hogg, from the point of view of those-. who remember the excessive cost of theMakohine viaduct, made by co-operative* labor, will be thought to be censuring the- • Government ou its economy when he said z "Although .they had been told that work: j under the co-operative system was cheaper I than the contract system, one of the< biggest viaducts on the North Island Maia Trunk Lino was to be constructed by con- ; tract. It seemed io him that wo were* , drifting back." There is another aspect of this matter which is deserving of notice* at a time when much money is being spent.) on a Scenery Preservation Commission/ and more is expected to be spent in acquir- ! ing properties that Commission recom- I mends as picturesque attractions to tourists. In this utilitarian "age the aesthetic: taste is not generally allowed to stand in the way of the economy of nations. Waterfalls are peculiarly a factor in the pic-, turesque, -and it will be well if the recommendations of the Commission, when they come, are read with minds .(reserved as to* the call, to the wild front combined industries., Ono of the world's sights, the great. Niagara, has suffered from hands not rathless but deliberately economical. Says theStandard ; "But those who saw the falls in- <

their full magnificence will realise how much s the world will lose— or at least that S^ part which has eyes for something else SQ , than the effulgence of gold." We have be- U6 fore written in favor of the Government in: utilising' the streams of the colony if it is sa proved that the electrification of our State j^ railways is advisable. We hope that, if bi the Bill promised becomes law, the way of will be left sufficiently open to enable private enterprise also to utilise the ft * streams, "for the purpose of promoting £| the industries of the colony." o f ' ' e^